Envelopes with a design or pattern printed on the inside are well known and in widespread use by individuals, professionals, organizations, and businesses. This inside printing, referred to herein as a “security tint” or simply “tint”, increases the opaqueness of the envelope and provides the sender and the recipient with increased confidence that the contents of the envelope will not be read by any of the third parties who may have access to the envelope in the course of its delivery.
The printed security area on the inside of an envelope becomes visible to the recipient when the envelope is opened and presents an additional opportunity for the sender of the envelope to communicate and connect with the recipient, for example by using the security tint to convey a message of appreciation, instruction, greetings, inspiration or whatever the sender may deem appropriate. For individuals and small businesses, however, this opportunity is typically missed.
Individuals and very small businesses generally buy boxes of off-the-shelf envelopes with security tint and put their return address on the envelope using a rubber stamp or an adhesive return address label. Some organizations and small businesses purchase envelopes pre-printed by the envelope vendor with the return address of the business, and possibly its logo, but, when it comes to the envelope security tint, the typical small business customer is offered either no choice at all or allowed to choose among a limited selection of standard tints offered by the vendor. A security tint customized for a single customer has traditionally been a viable option only for relatively large businesses that have the budget to afford the extra expense charged by envelope vendor for the special design effort and extra set-up required and, because the envelope vendor may require that customers requesting a special security tint commit to purchase a significant quantity of the custom tinted envelopes, that have a substantial demand for envelopes. Customized security tints have, therefore, typically not been a viable option for individuals and most small businesses.
There is, therefore, a need for a system and method allowing virtually anyone who is in the market for envelopes to quickly and easily design and order envelopes having a personalized security tint.